Barclays gains EU okay for Egg credit card asset buy

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, April 18 (Reuters) - British bank Barclays won EU regulatory approval on Monday to

acquire the British credit card assets of online bank Egg from U.S. lender Citigroup to reinforce its retail banking activities.

Barclays said last month that Egg's British credit card assets consisted of 1.15 million accounts with about 2.3 billion pounds of gross receivables. It did not disclose the price for the acquisition.

The European Commission, the EU competition watchdog, said the deal does not raise antitrust issues.

'As the target is only active in the UK, the activities of Barclays and the target overlap only in relation to the issuing of universal, personal credit cards in the UK and the combined market shares remain moderate,' the Commission said in a statement.

URL: http://www.lse.co.uk/FinanceNews.asp?ArticleCode=izre45igsjwt9kd&ArticleHeadline=Barclays_gains_EU_okay_for_Egg_credit_card_asset_buy


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